What’s your golden ticket for 2016?

Well I hope it’s a Happy New Year for everyone I have certainly been focusing hard on my plans for this year how have you been doing? Just before Christmas I gave you some food for thought and tips on key elements to improve for success. Well after some interesting networking conversations to start off the year I feel I need to ask the question “Do you really know what ISO9001 is and the principles that drive it?”

You may not need to go for ISO9001 accreditation but I feel everyone should at least familiarise themselves with the key principles of this successful management system. The standard has been used over and over and it works for improving businesses, so why ignore this golden ticket to your business improvement? Setting up a robust business process I feel is key to sustainable growth it is not restrictive to innovation; you become consistent, efficient and much more capable of delivering right first time. Without first defining your business system you face growing with out purpose, things grow organically. As you grow and more people become involved in doing similar work they each do it their own way, inconsistencies and duplication creep in. Your customer doesn’t just need that wow factor on one visit from one exceptional staff member; they need it every time in each interaction and all members of staff. Happy loyal customers mean repeat business and referrals which go straight to the bottom line. So what are these principles?

The ISO9001 standard was founded on 8 principles as follows:-

Customer focused organisation – What are you going to do differently in 2016 to listen to your customers? Do you understand why your loyal customers are loyal? Have you asked the customers you lost what happened? Gain a better understanding of who all of your interested parties are and how they perceive you.

Leadership – Do you lead by example and follow your system? If you do not follow the rules how can you expect your staff to. Do you have a story? Knowing the why behind your business enables you to engage people with your story. True followers of a leader want to be inspired and the art is to help them develop their own dreams for their lives both work and at home.

Involvement of people – How are you going to build on your teams this year? Are your staff going to be talking about being part of something bigger and sharing a vision?

Process Approach – Are you going to finally get around to improving the way you do things and questioning the norm? Is your business process clear and run itself?

Systems approach to management – Is your dream to have more time or to get that work life balance? If so systems allow your business to run without you, how are you at working on your business for 2016? Systems management is about understanding the holistic approach and seeing the interrelationships between the processes that can create harmony.

Continuous Improvement – Do you encourage your people to question the norm, and suggest improvements? Do you ever thank and feedback the results for their effort? When you make changes for 2016 look at whole not individual problems. Use proven tools & techniques to analyse and assess the impact of the change before you role it out. Give yourself a greater chance of success and involve others on the journey.

A factual approach to decision making – The more you measure and test your processes and system the better your decision making gets. Your changes are based on fact taking the guess work out of running the business.

Mutually beneficial Supplier Relationships – How is your supply chain looking for 2016? Look at you communication channels are you giving the right information to allow things to happen smoothly? Take action to de-risk your supply chain where it has a direct impact on the quality of your service/product and your customer.

This may be a bit of a whirlwind tour but I hope that this has given you an insight into the thinking behind the standard. Think about how you can use these principles in 2016 to make a difference in your business world. For those of you that have the new ISO9001:2015 take time out to read the bit everyone skips over, ‘the introduction’, you will be amazed at the little gems of information that are contained here.

My challenge to you for 2016 is why not benchmark your company against ISO9001 and get a bespoke action plan? You can call me direct on 07745 482426.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you every success with your plans for 2016.

On the run up to Christmas you will be seeing many articles on what changes you should be making for the New Year. “What will you be doing to make a difference in 2016”, they ask. They are many good ideas and areas to focus on to improve, but whether it is your numbers, marketing or operations your people will be the key to success.

Your focus on your staff as the core of the changes is fundamental to the success of the improvement. Yes you need to look at the impact of any changes you make to ensure you address all possible risks but the new thinking required by employees does not happen on it’s own.

Having a fantastic business process is very important and should be celebrated but put it into the wrong environment and culture and it will not become the norm. Ask yourself this question about procedures you have put in place in your organisation. Is there anyone that repeatedly tries to cut out certain things, bypass your system? Have you asked the question why? Did you encourage your front line staff to help you write the procedure so that you can understand what life is like there?

Over the coming month of January my blogs are going to explore this more as it links to a lot of the areas covered by the new ISO9001:2015 standard. I want companies to understand the difference between instigating change within their company and building in fundamental lasting changes that will have an impact on their business.

Below I share my tips on key things to think about to nurture your culture and prepare for the changes ahead in 2016, these are not in order of importance just food for thought over the Christmas period..

Processes and systems – Have systems that are well written and effective. if there is a problem focus on the system first not who to blame, blame cultures destroy innovations and improvement.

Leadership and vision – Knowing the why behind your business enables you to engage people with your story. True followers of a leader want to be inspired and the art is to help them develop their own dreams for their lives both work and at home. Lead by example and adhere to your systems; otherwise how can you expect anyone else to value what you say if you are not committed yourself. Systems also allow you to add the degree of control needed and put the boundaries in place to enable you to lead and manage the business.

Listen – Listen to your customers, listen to your staff and all interested parties that may have a direct impact in you being able to fulfil your purpose for the business. Do you actually know what your customers perception of you is? What do your staff say about you and the company?

Knowledge – Build a knowledge hub, encourage the sharing of information to remove the knowledge is power culture. Understand and build on the competencies of your people, make sure it links to the risks affecting your business. Ensure that your staff have the right knowledge to do their jobs, the most willing individual cannot perform if they do not have access to the correct information this is my next point.

Fact based decision making – You’re probably collect a lot of data without even knowing it, or maybe you do but it’s not not in an easy format to report from. Take away assumptions and start basing your decisions and fact, know your numbers and analyse for your Key Performance indicators.

Be SMART with your actions – Always link objectives to your why and make sure they are SMART, clear actions are the only way to achieve what you want and enable others to help you get there.

Values – We all have values we hold with high importance, make sure this is reflected in your business and maintain that integrity. Define your values for others and recruit on this basis to maintain your culture. If you have someone poisoning the culture it is far better to lose them however much knowledge they hold. The most efficient working team environment is one that is happy, fulfilled and dedicated to it’s purpose.

The important thing to remember is the clear line of sight between your vision and why to all of the above. Make sure there is reason and understanding behind what you do and communicate this in a way that your staff can understand and delivery on..

To all my friends, colleagues and customers have a very merry Christmas and I hope all your dreams for 2016 come true.

Get Better or Get Beat!

Quality, remember that word? It has so many definitions and meanings to each and every one of us. Quality has come a long way since the 80’s and the phrase Get better or get beat comes from the US in the late 80’s when they had to do a real push for Quality following the Japanese market success.

So my question is do you think that putting Quality as one of the key elements in the heart of your strategy can give you the competitive advantage you need? Isn’t that one thing we strive in order to survive, market superiority? This lead ahead has to be sustainable and affordable, we need to be efficient and consistent in what we deliver. S. C. Wheelwright identified six characteristics of a strong competitive advantage, so how do these fair with ISO9001:2015?

Driven by customers wants and needs – You need to give your customers value that your competitors are not. The 2015 standard clause 5 is LEADERSHIP and under this category we look at customer focus. It is your responsibility to demonstrate leadership and commitment to ensure customer focus so that all requirements are determined, understood and met. This needs to be related to all interested parties which is why you need to ensure fully understand the context of your organisation. Know the risks and opportunities that can affect your product or service to make sure that you can maintain the focus on enhancing the customer experience.

Makes a significant contribution to the success of the business – I think this is self explanatory but reports have shown that companies who truly embrace the principles of the ISO9001 standard reap the benefits. For a relatively low fee the standard provides a PROVEN METHODOLOGY, techniques and ideas that in turn increase customer confidence, help them operate more efficiently and meet your customer needs consistently.

Matches the organisation’s unique resources with opportunities in the environment – No two companies are exactly alike they have different people, vision and culture. Cause 4 of the new standard covers understanding the CONTEXT of the organisation, so you will need to determine all external & internal issues that are relevant to your purpose and strategy. Purpose is a great word and under ISO9001:2015 you need to be more RISK BASED in your thinking, so what is it that affects your ability to achieve results & fulfill your purpose? Think about your SWOT & PEST analysis opportunities as well as threats, this is what defines your strategy, policies and objectives. With this clear line sight and visibility throughout the organisation your actions and resources will be directly in line with your strategies.

Durable & Lasting, difficult for competitors to copy – Nothing stays unique for long you need to be able to develop and embrace innovation to stay ahead of the game. Clause 10 of the new standard is now IMPROVEMENT stating that you need to select opportunities for improvement, then implement any that meet and enhance existing customer satisfaction and future needs / expectations. Add to this the expanded section on DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT in Clause 8.3 and Clause 6 PLANNING the actions to address threats and opportunities; then you have a formula to capture and develop improvement ideas. Of course customers don’t always know their future needs until they are created, which is why we must innovate!

Provides a basis for further improvement – quite often ideas act as a catalyst and can provide a stream of improvements which can be rolled out step by step. It is important to remember this for changes to your Quality management system. Clause 6.3 PLANNING OF CHANGES reminds us of the emphasis we need to place on ensuring we know the impact of these changes, and carrying things out in a controlled manner.

Provides direction and motivation to the entire organisation – I love this last one as I believe it reflects the new requirements regarding fully understanding the context of your company, then demonstrating LEADERSHIP & COMMITMENT in your strategy. When you embrace ISO9001 and involve everyone it is a team effort. It’s about defining your expectations and boundaries but giving your employees responsibility, trust them to do the job you brought them in to do. This is a favourite of mine and why so many business owners need systems, to have the confidence to let go of the day to day in the business and start working on their business. Employees will do amazing things if given the opportunity and encouragement, so use systems to define your expectations and help them understand where they fit into the bigger picture.

My feelings regarding the ISO9001:2015 standard I hope are clear – I am a convert, but my advice is to ensure you consider three things in order to give you that sought after competitive advantage:

Put it into the right environment – CULTURE IS CRITICAL

Share and involve people on your journey- UNDERSTAND CONTEXT AND LINK IT TO YOUR WHY, YOUR STRATEGY RIGHT DOWN TO HOW YOUR EMPLOYEES CONTRIBUTE TO IT.

Be disciplined and think process – EMBRACE THE PROCESS APPROACH, PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL AND ADDRESS RISK SO YOU FULLY UNDERSTAND THE IMPACT OF CHANGES.

Ok so that is a lot put into three points but people like to look at a small number of things as a summary! I hope this has encouraged you to look into Quality Management Systems as a route to giving your company a competitive advantage to your business. I am happy to discuss any of these points or explore stages of improvement that can be rolled out.

We are always learning and I strongly believe that a company is a living organism, it’s people and their interrelationships shaping every day. Continuous improvement to compete in today’s challenging environment I see as essential as I read I am reminded of a Peter Drucker’s quote that I want to share.

“The innovative organisation requires a learning atmosphere throughout the entire business. It creates and maintains continuous learning. No one is allowed to consider himself “finished” at any time. Learning is a continuing process for all members of the organisation.”